TC allows big telcos to take part in 3G auction

The Manila Times writes that the National Telecommunications Commission will allow the country’s largest telecom groups to participate in the auction for the Philippines’ fourth unused third-generation (3G) mobile license, according to TeleGeography CommsUpdate.

The regulator’s u-turn comes in the wake of intense lobbying from three leading telcos — Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, and Digital Mobile Philippines— all of which hold UMTS concessions.

For its part, Smart, a unit of national fixed line giant PLDT, also owns Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprises, which has a 3G license.

In a revised draft circular published this week, the NTC says that ‘only applicants with existing authorization or pending applications for authorization to install, operate and maintain cellular mobile telephone system or mobile telecommunications networks should be allowed to file their applications for the assignment of the frequency band’.